Semayawi
Blue | Seats1 Title = Seats in Royal Assembly (Cobura) | Seats1 = | Seats2 Title = Nome Held | Seats2 = | Seats3 Title = Members of Council of Viziers | Seats3 = | Website = www.semayawi.cob | politics = Politics of Cobura | political parties = Political parties of Cobura | elections = Elections of Cobura | }} Semayawi (Blue) is a right-wing political association which was active in the Coburan Kingdom. It was founded in December 3804. It had no formal overall leader, the leader of its parliamentary faction is Gebre Abraha. It formed the government of Cobura from 3921-3927. Structure Semayawi is not an organised political party but endorses and funds candidates at elections. Elected candidates sit together in legislatures as a faction.There is a National Association led by a National Executive Board (NEB) which is an extremely powerful board, with near total authority on the association's management. There is a local association in each nome, organised along the national one's lines Semayawi is funded by large corporate interest groups and wealthy supporters through complex financing methods. It also receives public funding based on electoral performance. Ideology Semayawi is easily the most conservative political party to appear on the Coburan political sphere in the past few centuries. It is passionately economically liberal and support limited government, low taxes and privatisation of virtually every bit of the public sector. On social issues, views differ, ranging from social liberalism to ultra-conservatism. In foreign affairs, the association is viewed as somewhat isolationist although in favour of free trade and immigration. Its stance on federalism is less clear, up to 3918, it was in favour but subsequently it changed is stance. Support Semayawi enjoys strong support from the business community, upper middle class citizens and small town/rural citzens. While officially a multi-ethnic party, most of its support is from Mallans, with significantly less support from Irkawans, Tokundians and Coburan Majatran citizens. Semayawi's suspicious funding has long been controversial although numerous Justice Ministry investigations have failed to find any evidence of campaign financing legal violations. The party has long rejected public political funding and most of its funding is thought to originate from Kobra Corp a mining conglomerate closely attached to the association. Factions Semayawi has a number of internal factions which are relatively poorly organised. The largest factions are the 'light blues' (fiscally conservative social liberals) and 'dark blues' (social conservatives who are mostly more moderate on economics) A smaller 'purple' faction exists and is made up of centre-left to centrist ex-Royalist Coalition voters who defected to Semayawi in disgust at the Government's heavy handed response to the 3909-11 protests. Light blues and purples tend to be urban dwellers while dark blue are either small town dwellers or rural folk. History Foundation Cobura has traditionally been dominated by leftist and progressive parties ranging from hard to centre left. Semawayi was the first organised right-wing political movement in nearly five decades. Corporate groups, traditional tribal leaders and high income citizens weary of high taxation and egalitarianism began organising politically and formed small local associations to elect public officials. Due to a blanket ban on political donations, creative methods were employed to fund and support favoured candidates' election campaigns. In December 3804 a large number of these local associations merged and began operating on a national field. Tesfaye Bishaw became the national spokesman of the new association and drove it towards an ultra-conservative economic and social platform. In 3806 the association's candidates won 80 out of 250 seats in the Royal Assembly elections. Bishaw became the association's Assembly Faction Chairman. Controversies In the Assembly, Semawayi adopted a 'total opposition' mode against the Royalist Coalition government. In 3909 the association began sparking largescale anti-government protests lading to the Central Sharba massacre where 155 Semawayi protesters were killed by riot police. all this greatly destabilised the country between 3909 and 3911. It appears to have turned potential supporters who now viewed the association in negative terms. Reform Factions appeared with the party's parliamentary faction,with moderates opposed to the ultra-conservative social policies and conservatives who resisted any change or centralisation of the association. In 3911 the association lost 7 seats in the legislative elections. Shortly after moderates attempted to oust Bishaw as the faction chairman but failed. In July 3913 a successful backbencher revolt over an ultra-conservative bill saw Bishaw replaced by Gebre Abraha, a leader of the moderate wing. In 3915 Abraha held an association conference and pushed through several reforms which merged several associations into provincial based ones while a powerful new body the National Executive Board (NEB) was introduced, with wide powers on the national association's management. The association gained 18 seats in the 3916 election, strengthening the reformists. In Government In June 3921 Semayawi won a landslide victory, wining 191 out of 250 seats in the Royal Assembly. Abraha was appointed Grand vizier and formed a government mostly composed of moderates. Abraha continued economic liberalisation which had started some years before, albeit at a much faster pace. He also drafted and negotiated an amended mining contract with Kobra Corpration, resolving a serious mining dispute which had seens tens of thousands miners downing their tools following Kobra Corp's mass lay-ff of workers. His Finance Vizier Tesfaye Bishaw introduced largescale tax cuts, reducing the top rate from 60% to 29% and presenting a plan to phase out the corporate income tax rate. These were accompanied by massive budget cuts with spending reduced by 20% overall. The government was re-elected with a reduced but still large majority (175/250 seats) in 3926 Having vowed to tackle the trade unions in the election campaign, Abraha began preparing for this, introducing the Labour Reform Act which aimed to reduce several trade union powers. The government collapsed shortly after in March 3127 due to an Association split over economic policy and the Association itself folded a year later. Elections Legislative Category:Cobura Category:Political parties in Cobura